No surprise here. Mayor Gavin Newsom has vetoed legislation sponsored by Supervisor Ross Mirkarimithat would have would required San Francisco officeholders campaigning on their own behalf outside of California to reimburse the city for security costs.

Police Chief George Gascónhad urged Newsom to veto the legislation, saying it would "needlessly endanger public officials and chill the atmosphere of open dialogue."

In rejecting the legislation on Friday, Newsom wrote: "Our elected leaders should be encouraged to take strong policy positions ... without having to weigh whether or not he or she will be able to afford the potential consequences."

The mayor also warned that the legislation would make elected officials reluctant to request security because of its potential costs.

The measure garnered seven votes from the Board of Supervisors, one shy of what's needed to override a veto.

Mirkarimi pushed the issue when Newsom, who uses Police Department bodyguards, was campaigning for governor and was spending a lot of time away from San Francisco. Part of Mirkarimi's intent was to learn the cost of dignitary protection. In December, Gascón told supervisors that his department spent a little more than $2 million in fiscal year 2008-09, but he did not provide a breakdown.

Twitter bug: Even before it started cutting service and boosting fares, Muni was picked on by frustrated riders and taxpayers. But on Friday afternoon, Muni was the most popular kid on the playground - despite, or maybe because, of its budget-balancing plans.

Muni logged on to Twitter, the popular microblogging service, as sfmta_muni. Within an hour, 125 people were following Muni's tweets, and by 3:30 p.m., the total was up to 256.

As for why Muni decided to climb aboard the Twitter train, spokesman Judson Truesaid (via telephone) that the agency is well aware that it's been the topic of much chatter - OK, criticism - on the social network.

"It's about time we joined the conversation," he said.

- Michael Cabanatuan

Shadow government: While the political debate is over for now, several tongues are still wagging over who was really behind Supervisor David Chiu'sproposed ballot measure to forbid new buildings from shadowing city-owned parks.

Chiu pulled the ballot measure Thursday after receiving a letter from Mayor Gavin Newsom that called for more time to analyze the issue. Critics had said the measure would block nearly every major construction project.

Peskin, along with longtime skyscraper opponent Sue Hestor, has been a strident critic of the proposal to put a 425-foot condominium tower next to the Transamerica Pyramid that would be twice as tall as the current height limit there and shade two protected city-owned parks.

But Peskin told Insider he didn't draft the legislation.

"Had I drafted it, it would've been stronger," he said.

Chiu said he consulted with Peskin and numerous others on the ballot measure, but that the decision and effort were his. A records request for communication between Peskin and Chiu about the measure turned up only one brief e-mail where they discussed documents from the original 1984 proposition.

"I hope our green, environmental mayor will stand up for our parks and open spaces and not continue in the petty politics of personality," Peskin said when asked about his purported involvement.